Poultry News

Schothorst Feed Research Expands Poultry Research Possibilities

24 April 2012

NETHERLANDS - Schothorst Feed Research has small-scale and large-scale research facilities for poultry. With the purchase of 144 new ground-floor pens and 96 new balance cages, the possibilities for poultry research are further expanded.

The ground-floor pens can be installed in one room of the large-scale broiler house, giving the opportunity to test a maximum of 24 feed treatments × 6 replicates simultaneously. The floor surface area per pen is at least 2.4 m2. Size of the room, climate conditions, and management in the broiler house are according to practical-scale broiler farming, enabling a good translation of trial results into practical advices.

Digestibility studies require a different type of housing than ground-floor pens. With the purchase of 96 new balance cages we have also expanded the possibilities for this type of studies. A smart construction offers flexible housing for both laying hens and broilers. For example, perches and laying nests can be installed into the cages when they are used for layers. The cages have a partition wall that can be removed when there are no measurements. With the new balance cages a maximum of 16 feed treatments × 6 replicates can be tested simultaneously.